Mr. Raymond Mason

Mr. Raymond Mason was born in 1946, approximately 200km north of Winnipeg, Manitoba in Peguis First Nation. At the age of 6, Mason was one of the 150,000 Indigenous children who were taken from their homes and sent to Residential Schools. Until he was 18, Mason was forced to attend three different schools throughout Manitoba and was ultimately impacted by the abuses he saw and endured.

Despite these obstacles, Mason graduated with a commerce degree at the University of Manitoba and went on to run several successful businesses. Mason founded the organization Spirit Wind Inc. and started organizing meetings, gathering survivor testimonies, providing presentations on the schools and obtaining lawyers to begin the process of seeking compensation from the Canadian government for their crimes.

After these steady advances for Indigenous peoples, Mason continued his work with Spirit Wind Inc, launching in 2009, a National class action lawsuit for the survivors of Indigenous Day schools that is currently being heard in the Federal courts. Mason’s life characterizes the spirit of Residential School survivors as they overcame immense difficulties in their search for justice.